Summary
During the accumulation of KCl by excised tissue of the carrot storage root, Cl−, influx falls by 90% or more. The possibility that this reduction is caused by depletion of respiratory substrate and consequent limitation of Cl− influx by energy supply is disproved. If energy were limiting, then after accumulating KCl (i) the rate of O2 uptake would be less; (ii) the ATP content might be less; (iii) external glucose and/or sucrose would stimulate O2 uptake and Cl− influx; and (iv) respiratory uncouplers would stimulate O2 uptake less. In each case the opposite was found. The ratio of O2 uptake in KCl-loaded tissue to that in nonloaded tissue was 1.25±0.21 (7); the ATP concentration was the same after KCl loading; glucose did not stimulate O2 uptake (except indirectly in the same way as a nonmetabilized glucose analogue) nor did glucose or sucrose stimulate Cl− influx; and the maximal O2 uptake in the presence of the uncoupler ClCCP was the same after KCl loading.
The decrease in Cl− influx must therefore be due to a negative feedback signal from internal Cl−, as previously suggested. It is pointed out that normal energy supply must be regarded not as an independent, controlling variable; but rather as a dependent variable of the KCl accumulation system.
Conditions where energy supply is or becomes limiting are discussed. The distinction is drawn between pumps operating near equilibirium when energy supply may normally be a controlling factor (e.g., many H+-ATPases); and other pumps (possibly most of those for the uptake of nutrients and osmotica) which operate far from equilibrium and for which energy supply is a dependent variable.
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Cram, W.J. Chloride accumulation in plant cells as a homeostatic system: Energy supply as a dependent variable. J. Membrain Biol. 74, 51–58 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01870594
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01870594